Second Recology executive charged with bribery

The Northern District of California has announced that John Francis Porter, the former vice president and group manager of Recology, San Francisco, has been charged with bribing former Director of San Francisco Department of Public Works (DPW) Mohammed Nuru and with money laundering.

The complaint, unsealed April 15, alleges that Porter, 37, of San Francisco, bribed Nuru and participated in laundering the proceeds of the bribe as part of an alleged years-long scheme to defraud the public. Porter was group controller and later vice president and general manager of Recology’s San Francisco Group, which provides refuse collection and disposal services in San Francisco.

Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie Hinds says that Porter was a central player in the scheme detailed in the complaint. The scheme included paying Nuru to benefit Recology.  

Nuru resigned as the director of San Francisco’s DPW after being charged in a Jan. 16, 2020, federal complaint. He was charged with honest services fraud for a scheme to bribe a San Francisco airport commissioner. The prosecution of Nuru remains ongoing, The Northern District of California says.

Porter is the second Recology employee charged. Paul Giusti, the former Recology San Francisco group government and community relations manager who reported to Porter, was charged on Nov. 18, 2020. The federal complaint included bribery and money laundering for his role in the same conduct described in the complaint allegations against Porter. Giusti’s prosecution is continuing.
   
“Once again, a person employed by a company contracting with San Francisco has been charged with bribing a San Francisco City Hall official with more than $1 million in funds and benefits,” Hinds says. “A person who pays a bribe is as criminally liable as the public official who takes it. Our investigation of San Francisco City Hall corruption continues. If you have information about corruption among San Francisco public officials or contractors with San Francisco, reach out to the FBI. Your cooperation is important.”   

FBI Special Agent in Charge D. Fair says that Porter is the eleventh individual charged in the FBI's probe into public corruption in San Francisco City Hall.

The specific charge of the complaint alleges that in the summer of 2018, Recology sought to raise the tipping fees it charged the city of San Francisco for dumping materials at the Recology Sustainable Crushing facility. During the summer and fall of 2018, the complaint alleges, Porter sought Nuru’s assistance with Recology’s efforts to increase the tipping fee. Porter enlisted the help of his subordinate, Giusti, who had a close relationship with Nuru.

The complaint states that Porter emailed Nuru seeking assistance in obtaining the tipping fee increase on Nov. 26, 2018. Thereafter, Giusti agreed to give Nuru a bribe of $20,000 to influence his official actions on the proposed increase. The complaint states that Porter gave written approval for Recology to issue a $20,000 check described as a “holiday donation” to the Lefty O’Doul’s Foundation for Kids, a non-profit organization to help underprivileged San Francisco children run by Nick Bovis. Giusti provided the bribe money to the Lefty O’Doul’s Foundation, and Bovis used the Recology money to pay for Nuru’s elaborate DPW holiday party, not to help underprivileged San Francisco children. Despite the bribe, the attempt to increase the tipping fee was ultimately unsuccessful. Bovis pleaded guilty to honest services fraud in May 2020 for bribing Nuru.

The complaint further describes Porter’s role in the Recology San Francisco Group’s efforts, acting through executives including Giusti and Porter, to direct benefits to Nuru. These benefits totaled over $1 million, and were made to influence Nuru, who was Recology’s regulator. Recology had an ongoing need for Nuru’s approvals, including for rate increases for residential garbage collection.

To keep Nuru happy, the complaint alleges that Giusti, with the approval of Porter or Porter’s immediate predecessor, arranged for Recology to provide Nuru with a stream of benefits over the span of years. Porter ultimately approved $55,000 to fund Nuru’s DPW holiday parties in payments disguised as charitable Lefty O’Doul’s Foundation donations. The complaint also describes Porter’s role in approving hundreds of thousands of dollars over several years in Recology payments made, at Nuru’s directions, to a San Francisco nonprofit, ostensibly for a DPW program called “Giant Sweep.” That nonprofit held the money for about a week or two, then took a 5 percent cut and sent the money at Nuru’s direction to accounts controlled by Nuru at another nonprofit. Recology’s payments to Nuru were closely tied in time to specific needs for Nuru’s assistance and approval.  

Porter is charged with one count of bribery and one count of laundering the proceeds of honest services fraud. If convicted of bribery, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. If convicted of concealment money laundering, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, or both.

Porter is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court in San Francisco on April 20 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley.  

So far, 11 people have been charged. Most recently, Sandra Zuniga, 45, of South San Francisco and the former director of both the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services and San Francisco’s Fix-It Team, entered her plea of guilty to a charge of conspiring to launder money with Nuru. Zuniga has agreed to cooperate with the FBI in the public corruption investigation relating to the San Francisco government.

The case is being prosecuted by the Corporate Fraud Strike Force of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The case is being investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation and the FBI.